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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Litseen
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DTSTART:20150101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160526T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160526T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160507T011523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T011523Z
UID:21956-1464291000-1464298200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Nomadic Press Author Readings
DESCRIPTION:Pegasus Books presents an evening with authors from Oakland’s Nomadic Press \nFeaturing Readers: \nTongo Eisen-Martin\nCassandra Dallett\nSoma Mei Sheng Frazier\nAllie Marini\nNick Johnson\nand MK Chavez \nAbout Nomadic Press (from their website): \n“We are proud to print all of our books locally in Oakland\, CA. We strongly believe in supporting local authors\, publishers\, and printers and growing together. We distribute our books with a local distributor and every week—multiple times a week—feature local writers\, musicians\, and artists in our diverse events across the Bay Area and Brooklyn\, NY. Thank you for visiting and supporting your small\, community-focused non-profit publishing organization.”
URL:https://litseen.com/event/nomadic-press-author-readings/
LOCATION:Pegasus Books Downtown\, 2349 Shattuck Ave\, Berkeley \, CA\, 94704\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160526T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160526T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160507T011335Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T011335Z
UID:21955-1464291000-1464298200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Carol Snow + Brian Teare
DESCRIPTION:Carol Snow’s new book is Position Paper: New and Selected Poems. Robert Hass has called her work “brilliant\, funny\, subtle\,” Cole Swenson “delicate and masterful\,” and Fanny Howe has deemed it “a new and mesmerizing way of looking at things.” Her previous books are Artist and Model\, selected by Robert Hass for the National Poetry Series and winner of the Poetry Center Book Award; For; The Seventy Prepositions; and Placed: Karesansui Poems. Among her honors are the Joseph Henry Jackson Award\, a Pushcart Prize\, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts\, and a Poetry Fund grant. \nBrian Teare’s new book of poems is The Empty Form Goes All the Way to Heaven. Cole Swensen says\, “A kind of stillness gradually builds through these carefully-shaped pieces\, a distilled poise in which one comes to hear Agnes Martin as one simultaneously sees the Zen koan that the collection itself slowly\, precisely forms.” He’s published four previous books of poems\, The Room Where I Was Born\, winner of the Brittingham Prize; Sight Map; Pleasure\, which won the Lambda Award; and Companion Grasses\, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award. A 2015 Pew Fellow in the Arts\, he’s received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fund for Poetry\, among others. An Assistant Professor at Temple University\, he lives in South Philadelphia\, where he makes books by hand for his micropress\, Albion Books.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/carol-snow-brian-teare/
LOCATION:Moe’s Books\, 2476 Telegraph Ave\, Berkeley\, CA\, 94704\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160526T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160526T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160507T011155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T011155Z
UID:21953-1464289200-1464296400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Jo Baker
DESCRIPTION:From the best-selling author of Longbourn\, a stunning new novel that follows an unnamed writer–Samuel Beckett–whose life and extraordinary literary gift are permanently shaped in the forge of war.\nWhen war breaks out in Europe in 1939\, a young\, unknown writer journeys from his home in neutral Ireland to conflict-ridden Paris and is drawn into the maelstrom. With him we experience the hardships yet stubborn vibrancy at the heart of Europe during the Nazis’ rise to power; his friendships with James Joyce and other luminaries; his quietly passionate devotion to the Frenchwoman who will become his lifelong companion; his secret work for the French Resistance and narrow escapes from the Gestapo; his flight from occupied Paris to the countryside; and the rubble of his life after liberation. And through it all we are witness to workings of a uniquely brilliant mind struggling to create a language that will express his experience of this shattered world. Here is a remarkable story of survival and determination\, and a portrait of the extremes of human experience alchemized into timeless art.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/jo-baker/
LOCATION:Bookshop Santa Cruz\, 1520 Pacific Ave\, Santa Cruz \, CA\, 95060\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,South Bay
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160526T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160526T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160507T010807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T010807Z
UID:21952-1464289200-1464296400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Jose Gutierrez + Tracey Knapp
DESCRIPTION:Jose Gutierrez was born in Miami and raised in Panama. He’s been a poet of repute in San Francisco for a decade. We’re pleased to host a release reading of his new collection\, “A World Less Away.” Tracey Knapp\, whose book “Mouth” was published in 2015\, will open the reading.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/jose-gutierrez-tracey-knapp/
LOCATION:Bird & Beckett Books and Records\, 653 Chenery St\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94131\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160526T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160526T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160507T010608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160507T010608Z
UID:21951-1464285600-1464292800@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Jennifer Dwight
DESCRIPTION:Recently widowed and adapting to the challenges of single motherhood\, Mercedes Bell is a paralegal at Crenshaw\, Slayne & McDonough when she meets Jack Soutane\, a dashing San Francisco lawyer who has recently begun leasing office space from the firm. It’s the 1980s. The crack epidemic\, homelessness\, and AIDS explode on the scene\, Jack’s law practice booms―and the Crenshaw firm eagerly shares his bounty. Meanwhile\, despite all the warning signs\, Mercedes falls under Jack’s spell. \nWhen calamity strikes and Jack succumbs to his own dark surprise\, Mercedes finds herself in a race to survive and to protect her daughter. In order to do so\, she must make sense of wildly inconsistent information―and face the truths that emerge. Compelling and full of suspense\, The Tolling of Mercedes Bell is a story about honesty in the face of deception\, courage in the pursuit of happiness\, and the unexpected places that quest can lead. \nJennifer Dwight has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area’s legal community\, the setting for her upcoming suspense novel\, for more than 30 years. She has written and published several law practice-related nonfiction books\, many articles\, a sixty-segment fiction serial\, and numerous short stories. She received a B.A. in Religion from The Colorado College and has studied creative writing at U.C. Extension in Berkeley\, CA.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/jennifer-dwight/
LOCATION:Book Passage San Francisco\, 1 Ferry Building\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94111\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160525T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160525T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T021544Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T021544Z
UID:21946-1464204600-1464211800@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Rosalind Brackenbury: The Third Swimmer
DESCRIPTION:This is the story of a marriage between two Britons\, Olivia and Thomas. The first part of the novel takes place in London\, on the brink of war\, bracing for invasion. It ends with a bomb that would have killed Olivia\, had Olivia not been spending the night with her married lover\, Felix. Prior to spending her final night with Felix\, Olivia has accepted a proposal of marriage from Thomas\, a more suitable life partner. Part Two opens in 1952\, after the war\, but with the effects of the war still haunting the survivors as well as the landscape. Thomas and Olivia\, now married with children\, have traveled to the south coast of France\, to have what might be their delayed honeymoon. But their marriage has cooled down almost to the point of dying out. The central event of the novel is an attempt by Thomas to rescue a stranger seen drowning out at sea. The couple’s future will depend on the outcome of this impetuous act of bravery. \nRosalind Brackenbury is the author of many novels and collections of poetry. In 2015 she was named Poet Laueate of Key West\, Florida. She has worked as a teacher\, a book reviewer\, a deck hand\, a mother\, and a college professor. She lives in Key West and spends part of each year in France.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/rosalind-brackenbury-the-third-swimmer/
LOCATION:Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore\, 2904 College Ave\, Berkeley\, CA\, 94705\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160525T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160525T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T021303Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T021303Z
UID:21945-1464204600-1464211800@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Geoff Dyer + Pico Iyer
DESCRIPTION:Geoff Dyer is the author of the novels Paris Trance\, The Search\, The Colour of Memory\, and Jeff in Venice\, Death in Varanasi; two collections of essays\, Anglo-English Attitudes and Working the Room; and the genre-defying titles But Beautiful\,The Missing of the Somme\, Out of Sheer Rage\, Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It\, and The Ongoing Moment. His book\, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition – a selection of essays from Anglo-English Attitudes and Working the Room – was awarded the 2011 National Book Critics Circle award for Criticism. His newest book is White Sands. \nPico Iyer was born in Oxford\, England in 1957\, to parents from India\, and educated at Eton\, Oxford and Harvard. Since 1986 he has been writing books and since 1992 he has been based in rural Japan with his longtime sweetheart\, while spending part of each year in a Benedictine hermitage in California. He is the author of numerous books including Video Night in Kathmandu\, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul\, The Man Within My Head an\,d The Art of Stillness. An essayist for Time since 1986\, he also publishes regularly inHarper’s\, The New York Review of Books\, and The New York Times.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/geoff-dyer-pico-iyer/
LOCATION:Nourse Theatre\, 275 Hayes Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94117\, United States
CATEGORIES:San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160525T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160525T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T021110Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T021110Z
UID:21944-1464202800-1464206400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:David Schneider: Crowded by Beauty
DESCRIPTION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore in Oakland welcomes David Schneider to the store to discuss and sign\, Crowded by Beauty: The Life and Zen of Poet Philip Whalen\, on Wednesday\, May 25th at 7:00pm. \nPhilip Whalen was an American poet\, Zen Buddhist\, and key figure in the literary and artistic scene that unfolded in San Francisco in the 1950s and 60s. When the Beat writers came West\, Whalen became a revered\, much-loved member of the group. Erudite\, shy\, and profoundly spiritual\, his presence not only moved his immediate circle of Beat cohorts\, but his powerful\, startling\, innovative work would come to impact American poetry to the present day.\nDrawing on Whalen’s journals and personal correspondence\, particularly with Ginsberg\, Kerouac\, Snyder\, Kyger\, Welch\, and McClure\, David Schneider shows how deeply bonded these intimates were\, supporting one another in their art and their spiritual paths. Schneider\, himself an ordained priest\, provides an insider’s view of Whalen’s struggles and breakthroughs in his thirty years as a Zen monk. When Whalen died in 2002 as the retired Abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center\, his own teacher referred to him as a patriarch of the Western lineage of Buddhism. Crowded by Beauty chronicles the course of Whalen’s life\, focusing on his unique\, eccentric\, humorous\, and literary-religious practice. \nDavid Schneider is the author of Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey. He was ordained as a Zen priest in 1977 and made an Acharya of Shambhala in 1995\, a role in which he continues.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/david-schneider-crowded-by-beauty/
LOCATION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore\, 5433 College Ave\, Oakland\, CA\, 94618\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160524T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160524T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T020819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T020819Z
UID:21940-1464116400-1464123600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:The Epicenter: Adam Haslett w/ Jane Ciabattari
DESCRIPTION:“Adam Haslett’s second novel is about family\, love\, forgotten music\, and a despair that proves unbearable\, and has one of the most harrowing and sustained descriptions of a mind in obsessive turmoil and disrepair that I’ve ever read. Haslett is a marvelously lucid and intelligent writer.”—Joy Williams\, Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Quick and the Dead \n“This is a book that tenderly and luminously deals with mental illness and with the life of the mind…hypnotic and haunting.”—Publishers Weekly\, starred\, boxed review \n“Imagine Me Gone is beautiful\, it’s terrifying\, it’s intimate and epic\, and it’s devastating—one of the great books about loss and mourning and the ineluctable laws that govern the political economy of families. I cannot describe the force or the depth of its accomplishment except to say that this magnificent work of art has overwhelmed me and broken my heart. It will take me a long time to come to terms with this novel.”—Tony Kushner \nLitquake is proud to host the San Francisco launch of Adam Haslett’s newest novel Imagine Me Gone. Haslett will be in conversation with Jane Ciabattari. Book sales and signing to follow. \nWhen Margaret’s fiancé\, John\, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London\, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans despite what she now knows of his condition\, or back away from the suffering it may bring her. She decides to marry him. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son\, Michael\, a brilliant\, anxious music fanatic who makes sense of the world through parody. Over the span of decades\, his younger siblings — the savvy and responsible Celia and the ambitious and tightly controlled Alec — struggle along with their mother to care for Michael’s increasingly troubled and precarious existence. \nTold in alternating points of view by all five members of the family\, this searing\, gut-wrenching\, and yet frequently hilarious novel brings alive with remarkable depth and poignancy the love of a mother for her children\, the often inescapable devotion siblings feel toward one another\, and the legacy of a father’s pain in the life of a family. \nWith his striking emotional precision and lively\, inventive language\, Adam Haslett has given us something rare: a novel with the power to change how we see the most important people in our lives.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/the-epicenter-adam-haslett-w-jane-ciabattari/
LOCATION:Alamo Drafthouse Cinema\, 2550 Mission Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94110\, United States
CATEGORIES:San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160524T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160524T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T020412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T020412Z
UID:21939-1464112800-1464120000@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Nick Bantock: The Pharos Gate
DESCRIPTION:A love story for the ages\, the tale of Griffin and Sabine is an international sensation that spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and continues to beguile readers 25 years after its original publication. Here to celebrate that anniversary is the final volume in Griffin and Sabine’s story—a book that can be enjoyed as a singular reading experience or in conjunction with the series as a whole. The Pharos Gate rejoices in the book as physical object\, weaving together word and image in beautifully illustrated postcards and removable letters that reveal a sensual and metaphysical romance\, one full of mystery and intrigue. \nNick Bantock\, born and raised in England\, now lives in Victoria\, British Columbia. An acclaimed writer and artist\, he is the author of books ranging from fiction to creative inspiration. His art is publicly and privately collected throughout the world.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/nick-bantock-the-pharos-gate/
LOCATION:Book Passage San Francisco\, 1 Ferry Building\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94111\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160523T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160523T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T020154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T020154Z
UID:21938-1464026400-1464033600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Chris McCormick: The Desert Boys
DESCRIPTION:Desert Boys follows the life of Daley Kushner\, growing up\, coming out\, and grappling with the remnants of his childhood in California’s Mojave Desert. This series of powerful\, linked stories illuminates Daley’s world—the family\, friends\, and community that have both formed and constrained him\, and his new life in San Francisco. Back home\, the desert preys on those who cannot conform: an alfalfa farmer on the outskirts of town; two young girls whose curiosity leads to danger; a black politician who once served as his school’s Confederate mascot; Daley’s mother\, an immigrant from Armenia; and Daley himself\, introspective and queer. Meanwhile\, in another desert on the other side of the world\, war threatens to fracture Daley’s most meaningful—and most fraught—connection to home\, his friendship with Robert Karinger. \nChris McCormick was raised in the Antelope Valley. He earned his B.A. at the University of California\, Berkeley\, and his M.F.A. at the University of Michigan\, where he was the recipient of two Hopwood Awards. He lives in Ann Arbor\, Michigan
URL:https://litseen.com/event/chris-mccormick-the-desert-boys/
LOCATION:Book Passage San Francisco\, 1 Ferry Building\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94111\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160522T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160522T220000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T015932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T015932Z
UID:21937-1463943600-1463954400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Alicia Jo Rabins: Songs + Poems
DESCRIPTION:Portland-based writer and musician Alicia Jo Rabins weaves together poetry\, violin\, a loop pedal\, and feminist Bible scholarship to create performances of unique and captivating beauty. This special evening celebrates the launch of OPEN THE GROUND\, Alicia’s third album of songs about women in the Bible with her musical project Girls in Trouble\, as well as her poetry book DIVINITY SCHOOL\, winner of the 2015 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize. The New York Times calls Alicia’s voice “gorgeous”; the San Francisco Chronicle calls DIVINITY SCHOOL “an astonishing find: a poetry page-turner\, both sexy and humble.” \nSuggested $5-10 donation at the door / no one turned away for lack of funds.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/alicia-jo-rabins-songs-poems/
LOCATION:Alley Cat Books\, 3036 24th St\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94110\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160522T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160522T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T015731Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T015731Z
UID:21936-1463929200-1463932800@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Chana Bloch\, Christina García + Jane Hirshfield
DESCRIPTION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore in Oakland welcomes Chana Bloch\, Christina García\, and Jane Hirshfield to the store to discuss their contributions to Extraordianry Rendition: American Writers on Palestine on Sunday\, May 22nd 3pm. \nExtraordinary Rendition: American Writers on Palestine brings together the work of sixty-five prominent writers to examine America’s culpability in the denial of human rights and dignity to Palestinians in Israel/Palestine and beyond. \nThe anthology includes pieces by writers such as Chana Bloch\, Christina García\, Jane Hirshfield\, Colum McCann\, Roger Reeves\, George Saunders and Alice Walker. In writing that is always clear\, and often startlingly beautiful\, they cover a range of issues including the erasure and reconstruction of histories\, the examination of identity\, the rights\, privileges\, and responsibilities of speaking out as artists\, the conditions of occupation\, and the potential for activism. They also explore the way U.S. foreign policy towards Palestine regularly mirrors the harsh realities faced by many of America’s own minorities. The anthology as a whole counters the dehumanizing narrative about Palestine that has taken hold in the United States\, often supported by mainstream news organizations\, and makes a significant contribution toward an understanding of the ways people of conscience in general\, and writers in particular\, can take on one of the most pressing political questions of our time. \nChana Bloch’s Swimming in the Rain: New and Selected Poems\, 1980-2015 includes selections from her four earlier collections\, The Secrets of the Tribe\, The Past Keeps Changing\, Mrs. Dumpty\, and Blood Honey\, as well as new work. Bloch is co-translator of the biblical Song of Songs and of Israeli poets Yehuda Amichai and Dahlia Ravikovitch. She has won two Pushcart Prizes\, two NEA fellowships\, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry\, the Di Castagnola Award of the Poetry Society of America\, and the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. Bloch is Professor Emerita of English at Mills College. \nCristina García is the author of six novels\, two anthologies\, works for young readers\, and a collection of poetry. Her latest book\, King of Cuba\, is a darkly comic portrait of Fidel Castro. García’s work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fourteen languages. She has taught at universities nationwide and recently moved to the Bay Area. \nJane Hirshfield’s most recent\, eighth poetry collection is The Beauty\, published along with Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World. Her honors include The California Book Award\, the Poetry Center Book Award\, fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and NEA\, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work appears in The New Yorker\, The Atlantic\, Poetry\, TLS\, Harper’s\, The Paris Review\, and eight editions of The Best American Poetry. She is a current chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and this year’s Mohr Visiting Poet at Stanford.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/chana-bloch-christina-garcia-jane-hirshfield/
LOCATION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore\, 5433 College Ave\, Oakland\, CA\, 94618\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160522T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160522T150000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T015515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T015515Z
UID:21935-1463922000-1463929200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Julien Poirier + Joanne Kyger
DESCRIPTION:Julien Poirier is the author of several poetry collections\, including El Golpe Chileño\, Stained Glass Windows of California\, and Way Too West and most recently\, Out of Print. In 2005\, he published an experimental newspaper novel\, Living! Go and Dream. He is also the editor of an anthology of writing by Jack Micheline\, One of a Kind\, and a book of travel journals by Bill Berkson\, Invisible Oligarchs. A founding member of Ugly Duckling Presse Collective\, Poirier edited the newspaperNew York Nights from 2001 to 2006. He has taught poetry in New York City public schools and at San Quentin State Prison. He lives in Berkeley with his wife and two daughters. \nOne of the major poets of the SF Renaissance\, Joanne Kyger was born in 1934 in Vallejo\, CA. After studying at UC Santa Barbara\, she moved to San Francisco in 1957\, where she became a member of the circle of poets around Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan. In 1960\, she joined Gary Snyder in Japan. They then traveled to India where\, along with Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky\, they met the Dalai Lama. She returned to California in 1964 and published her first book\, The Tapestry and the Web\, in 1965. In 1969\, she settled in Bolinas\, where she continues to reside today. She has published over 30 books of poetry and prose\, including Strange Big Moon\, The Japan and India Journals: 1960-1964\, As Ever: Selected Poems\, and About Now: Collected Poems\, which won the 2008 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. Her newest title is On Time: Poems 2005-2014. She occasionally teaches at Naropa University.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/julien-poirier-joanne-kyger/
LOCATION:Book Passage Marin\, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd. \, Corte Madera\, CA\, 94925\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160521T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160521T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T014721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T014721Z
UID:21927-1463859000-1463866200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Arlene Biala + Aida Salazar
DESCRIPTION:LUNADA is the Bay Area’s only full moon bilingual literary ritual & performance gathering devoted to spoken word\, música\, song\, and story. Located in the heart of the Mission District at Galería de la Raza\, and guest curated by some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic word slingers and artists\, each LUNADA features community poets\, local legends\, visiting mystics\, and other mero meros of the stage. \nSat. May 21 Arlene Biala and Aida Salazar
URL:https://litseen.com/event/arlene-biala-aida-salazar/
LOCATION:Galería de la Raza\, 2857 24th Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94110\, United States
CATEGORIES:San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160521T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160521T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T014246Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T014246Z
UID:21926-1463859000-1463866200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Writers With Drinks: Kay\, Choo\, Lau\, Booth\, + Waldman
DESCRIPTION:Guy Gavriel Kay (Children of Earth and Sky)\nYangsze Choo (The Ghost Bride)\nDavid Lau (Virgil and the Mountain Cat)\nKwan Booth (Black Futurists Speak: An Anthology of New Black Writing)\nAriel Waldman (What’s It Like in Space?) \nCost: $5 to $20\, no-one turned away\nAll proceeds benefit the Center for Sex and Culture.\nAt The Make Out Room 3225 22nd St.\, San Francisco CA\, from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM\, doors open at 6:30 PM.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/writers-with-drinks-kay-choo-lau-booth-waldman/
LOCATION:Make-Out Room\, 3225 22nd St\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94110\, United States
CATEGORIES:San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160521T191500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160521T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T015154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T015154Z
UID:21931-1463858100-1463864400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Literary Death Match 61st Event
DESCRIPTION:Literary Death Match returns to SF and the Elbo Room for our record 61st event for a duel fundraising effort\, as proceeds from the show will support our all-new web show — LDM Book Report\, and Lit Camp is raffling off book-skewed prizes to raise money for scholarships to their annual writer’s conference. \nWhat is Literary Death Match? Four writers read their own work for five minutes or less\, and are then judged by three all-star judges. Two finalists are chosen to compete in the Literary Death Match finale\, a vaguely-literary game to decide the ultimate winner. \nWhat is LDM Book Report?: Watch now to find out! LDM Book Report (and don’t forget to subscribe!) \nJUDGES:\nLiterary Merit: TBA\nPerformance: Rebecca Garza-Bortman\, visual designer and singer for Happy Fangs \nIntangibles: Mark Morford\, award-winning columnist for SF Chronicle\, author of The Daring Spectacle\n \nREADERS: \n* Janis Cooke Newman\, author of A Master Plan for Rescue (SF Chronicle Best Book 2015)\, Lit Camp founder\n* Baruch Porras-Hernandez\, writer\, performer\, visual artist\, storyteller & Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry\n* Na’amen Tilahun\, author of The Root\, co-creator of podcast The Adventures of Yellow Peril + Magical Negro\n* Sarah Ladipo Manyika\, lit professor at SF State and author of Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun \nHosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga \nWhere: Elbo Room\, 647 Valencia St.\, SF (map)\nWhen: Show at 7:15pm sharp; doors at 6:30pm; afterdrinks at 9\nCost: $7 preorder ($10 for preorder + 3 raffle tickets); $10 at the door \nRaffle Prizes Include: \n* 1-hour studio portrait sitting—perfect for your author photo—from Ian Tuttle Photography\n* $130 salon service from Peter Thomas Hair (to get ready for that author photo or your big reading)\n* 2-night stay at The Crash Pad in Jacksonville Oregon — The perfect writing retreat\n* 5 artisanal\, hand-rolled Cuban cigars — Time to fulfill that Hemingway fantasy\n* Bottle of Writer’s Tears whiskey\n* $50 VaycayHero gift certificate — Another great writing retreat\n* 4-issue\, monthly subscription to Journal of the Month—A surprise literary journal each month.\n* $50 gift card from Out of Print Clothing http://www.outofprintclothing.com
URL:https://litseen.com/event/literary-death-match-61st-event/
LOCATION:Elbo Room\, 647 Valencia Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94110\, United States
CATEGORIES:San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160520T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160520T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T013902Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T013902Z
UID:21924-1463767200-1463774400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:HELLA CLOSE: Stories of Black Queer Intimacy
DESCRIPTION:Featuring\nJoshua Merchant\nJoshua Merchant is a writer\, and native of East Oakland. Combining a masterful eye for detail\, startling vulnerability\, and unflinching courage\, Joshua explores queer issues\, black identity\, and the complexities of their intersection.\nIn 2011\, he won the title of Youth Speaks champion and represented the Bay Area at Brave New Voices. Later that year\, he became the Berkeley Slam’s youngest Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) representative. He helped represent the New Shit Show’s first slam team in 2014 at the National Poetry Slam and was third in the nation in 2015 with the Berkeley Slam team. His writing has brought him the honor and privilege to perform alongside artists and activists such as Chuck D\, MC Lyte\, Angela Davis\, Michael Poland\, and Saul Williams. He continues to perform and work with youth in his community and across the country. \nJezebel Delilah X\nJezebel Delilah X is a queer\, lush-bodied\, Black\, femme performance artist\, writer\, actress\, filmmaker\, educator\, facilitator\, orator and Faerie Princess Mermaid Gangsta for The Revolution. She loves to flirt\, laugh\, perform\, crack corny jokes\, and insert Octavia Butler references into every conversation. She is a co-managing editor for Everyday Feminism; co-host of the queer/feminist Open Mic\, Culture Fuck; creative director of queer\, Black\, multi-disciplinary performance troupe\, Congregation of Liberation; and one of the founding members of Deviant Type Press. She has performed in a wide variety of Queer and Queer People Of Color theatre projects and cabarets\, and has been a featured reader at literary events all over the Bay Area. She uses a combination of memoir\, poetry\, theatre\, and feminist storytelling to advance her politix of radical love\, socioeconomic justice\, anti-racism\, community accountability\, critical reflection\, love\, healing\, and liberation. She loves romantic songs\, romantic films\, romantic books\, romantic conversations\, romantic friendships\, and writing long\, vulnerable\, passionate Facebook statuses about romance. \nBrontez Purnell\nBrontez Purnell has been publishing\, performing and curating in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10 years. He is the author of the cult zine Fag School\, frontman for his band The Young Lovers and co-founder and choreographer of the Brontez Purnell Dance Company. Formerly a dancer with Gravy Train!!!\, a queer electro indie band that gained national prominence in the mid-2000’s\, Purnell recently published his first novella Johnny Would You Love Me (If My Dick Were Bigger) with Rudos and Rubes and will publish a second novel\, Since I Laid My Body Down…\, with the Sister Spit imprint of City Lights Books. He has currently been awarded the Creative Work Fund to begin work on a documentary about the life of the late Black experimental Bay Area choreographer Ed Mock. \nRamona “Mona” Webb\nScholar practitioner\, teaching performance artist\, and activist Ramona “Mona” Webb serves as the executive director of the Eden LGBTQ Youth Foundation\, the artistic director of Project ABLE and Lyrical Minded415\, which is an art-based learning for equity seasonal course implemented in various San Francisco Bay Area school districts\, and is the director of The State of Black Bodies by The Pr3ss Play Poets. For nine years\, Mona has served as slammaster and host of San Francisco’s The City Poetry Slam. She served on the 2014 and 2015 host city committee that produced the National Poetry Slam Festival in Oakland. Mona is a conservatory-trained artist who writes and performs in “docu-ritual- drama theater” and is currently a graduate student at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Chichester University in London\, pursuing dual MFA degrees in Theater Performance Making. How to Catch a Rapist in 12 Parts\, her current work in progress\, has appeared at Piano Fight Theater and Brava Theater. This performance theater piece chronicles Mona’s journey to seeking justice for her rape that took place 20 years ago.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/hella-close-stories-of-black-queer-intimacy/
LOCATION:Strut\, 470 Castro Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94114\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T013523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T013523Z
UID:21920-1463686200-1463693400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:May Story Showdown w/ Wonder Dave
DESCRIPTION:Awaken Cafe presents… \nDoors at 7pm :: Show at 7:30pm\n$13 Advance (no added fees) :: $15 Door \nThe Bay Area’s top performers\, comedians & renegade storytellers battle it out on stage for one night each month in Oakland\, featuring storytelling heavy-weights from NPR’s Snap Judgment\, the Moth\, Bawdy Stortelling and top stages across the country! Winner takes home $200 cash prize\, second place $70\, third place $50 and all other contestants get $20! Audience picks the winner! \nRecenlty selected by sfist.com as one of the “10 Best Storytelling Events in the Bay!” \n:::Host:::\nWonder Dave (co-host of Tourettes without Regrets)\n\n:::Speical Guest:::\nBri Crabtree (Circus Performer) \n:::This Month’s Contestants::: \nAnna Pulley (Writer & Advice Columnist)\nNazelah Jamison (Performance Poet\, Actress and Vocalist)\nIsa Borgeson (Poet)\nMighty Mike McGee (Slam Poet and Comedian)\nVijay Mehrotra (Professor at USF)
URL:https://litseen.com/event/may-story-showdown-w-wonder-dave/
LOCATION:Awaken Cafe\, 1429 Broadway\, Oakland \, CA\, 94612\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T013141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T013141Z
UID:21919-1463686200-1463693400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Rachel Richardson\, Tess Taylor + Kimberly Grey
DESCRIPTION:Kimberly Grey\, Rachel Richardson\, and Tess Taylor read poems from their new collections. \n\nAbout Kimberly Grey’s The Opposite of Light: \n  \nA revealing scrutiny of contemporary marriage; winner of the 2015 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry.\nCan the notion of Romantic love withstand our endless postmodern moment? In these extraordinary poems\, Kimberly Grey explores our abiding need for neatness\, order\, and symmetry in matrimony\, considering our ideals for love and language in this digital age―its weightless\, distracting\, and inescapable pressures. She portrays the ways in which love reflects us back to ourselves: familiar but strange\, predetermined but new. There is “a drop of blue light\,” she writes. “But no high-tech way / to say you’re mine. No way to love / each other but with these ancient bodies.” \n  \n“In The Opposite of Light the rapid momentum of invention plays against extremities of feeling\, system meeting sensation: “We keep inventing/ newfangled ways to be in the world” gives way to “No way to love each other/ but with these ancient bodies.” These poems are serious in their play\, love poems in a world of interlocking technologies and language\, tender buttons with a lot to say.  — Ken Fields \n  \nAbout Rachel Richardson’s Hundred-Year Wave: \n  \nIn Rachel Richardson’s second collection of poems\, she juxtaposes the grand quests of Ahab and Melville with the quotidian journeys of contemporary life. Hundred-Year Wave launches stories of marriage and motherhood over the currents of a nearly mythological ancestry: women and men who built their possessions out of iron and flour and whalebone and wool. If reaching back into the past is akin to plumbing a depth\, then Richardson exhibits the rare abilities of craft to build\, from our language\, vessels light enough to travel on that element\, but sturdy enough to weather the storms we are likely to find there. \n  \n“Rachel Richardson’s Hundred-Year Wave is a gorgeous book that borrows its vast subject matter from new parenthood\, marriage\, the ocean\, whales\, and Sylvia Plath. The poet knits each poem with such care—stitch by stitch\, loop by loop\, word after word into an effortless collection of quiet yet haunting music lush with texture and feeling. Her gifts are wide and deep like the ocean\, as she shows us that ‘we are not lost/in the vast expanse of lostness.'” –Victoria Chang \n  \nAbout Tess Taylor’s Work and Days: \n  \nIn 2010\, Tess Taylor was awarded the Amy Clampitt Fellowship. Her prize: A rent-free year in a cottage in the Berkshires\, where she could finish a first book. But Taylor—outside the city for the first time in nearly a decade\, and trying to conceive her first child—found herself alone. To break up her days\, she began to intern on a small farm\, planting leeks\, turning compost\, and weeding kale. In this calendric cycle of 28 poems\, Taylor describes the work of this year\, considering what attending to vegetables on a small field might achieve now. Against a backdrop of drone strikes\, “methamphetamine and global economic crisis\,” these poems embark on a rich exploration of season\, self\, food\, and place. Threading through the farm poets—Hesiod\, Virgil\, and John Clare—Taylor revisits the project of small scale farming at the troubled beginning of the 21st century. In poems full of bounty\, loss and the mysteries of the body\, Taylor offers a rich\, severe\, memorable meditation about what it means to try to connect our bodies and our time on earth. \n  \n“Our moment’s Georgic.” –Stephen Burt
URL:https://litseen.com/event/rachel-richardson-tess-taylor-kimberly-grey/
LOCATION:Green Apple Books on the Park\, 1231 9th Ave\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94122\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T012951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T012951Z
UID:21918-1463686200-1463693400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:David Hernandez + Tiffany Midge
DESCRIPTION:David Hernandez’s most recent book of poetry\, Hoodwinked (Sarabande Books\, 2011)\, won the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry. Dear\, Sincerely—his new collection—is forthcoming Spring 2016 as part of the Pitt Poetry Series. His other books include Always Danger (SIU Press\, 2006)\, winner of the Crab Orchard Series\, and A House Waiting for Music (Tupelo Press\, 2003). David’s awards include an NEA Literature Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. His poems have appeared in FIELD\, The Southern Review\, Ploughshares\, The Threepenny Review\, and The Best American Poetry 2013. He is also the author of two YA novels\, No More Us for You and Suckerpunch\, both published by HarperCollins. David teaches creative writing at California State University\, Long Beach and at California State University\, Fullerton. He lives in Long Beach and is married to writer Lisa Glatt. \nTiffany Midge is the recipient of the Kenyon Review Earthworks Prize for Indigenous Poetry for The Woman Who Married a Bear (University of New Mexico Press)\, and the Diane Decorah Memorial Poetry Award for Outlaws\, Renegades and Saints; Diary of a Mixed-up Halfbreed (Greenfield Review Press). Her work has appeared in North American Review\, Florida Review\, South Dakota Review\, Shenandoah\, and the online journals No Tell Motel and Drunken Boat. Tiffany has published creative nonfiction in The Butter\, and Sovereign Bodies\, and her essays received Pushcart Prize nominations from The Raven Chronicles and Yellow Medicine Review. An enrolled Standing Rock Sioux\, she holds an MFA from University of Idaho and is Poet Laureate of Moscow\, Idaho. Tiffany is writing the Great American (Indian) Novel about contemporary\, urban Native life\, Sex\, Lies\, and Frybread\, a Dramedy.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/david-hernandez-tiffany-midge/
LOCATION:Falkirk Cultural Center\, 1408 Mission Ave\, San Rafael \, CA\, 94901\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,North Bay
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T012601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T012601Z
UID:21915-1463684400-1463691600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Yaghoub Yadali: Rituals of Restlessness
DESCRIPTION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore in Oakland (in partnership with the Center for the Art of Translation) welcomes Yaghoub Yadali to the store to discuss and sign his newly translated work\, Rituals of Restlessness\, on Thursday\, May 19th at 7:00pm. \nEngineer Kamran Khosravi wants to die in a car accident. His professional life in the Iranian hinterlands is full of bureaucratic drudgery\, protecting dams\, for example\, from looters. His wife Fariba can no longer stand it\, and has left him to rejoin her family in Isfahan. She is anxious for him to choose a life with her\, or to let her go and persist with things as they are\, but Kamran’s issues run deeper than anybody imagines. He has lost all feeling for his wife\, and his plans for a car accident are escapist\, not suicidal. He is having an affair with a married country girl\, and thoughts of her lead him to foolish distraction. Most recently\, he has found a day laborer who matches his approximate build and hair color\, and his intentions grow increasingly dark\, along with his nihilistic outlook. Rituals of Restlessness won the 2004 Golshiri Foundation Award for the best novel of the year and was named one of the ten best novels of the decade by the Press Critics Award in Iran. However\, in 2007 Yaghoub Yadali was sentenced to one year in prison for having depicted an adulterous affair in the novel. Rituals of Restlessness and his short story collection Sketches in the Garden have been banned from publication and reprint in Iran. \nYaghoub Yadali\, a fiction writer from Iran\, has directed for television and worked for Roshd Magazine as the editor of the film section. In addition to Rituals of Restlessness and Sketches in the Garden\, he is the author of the short story collection Probablity of Merriment and Mooning. His short stories\, articles\, and essays are published in Iran\, Turkey\, and the US. He has been writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa\, Harvard University\, and City of Asylum in Pittsburgh\, PA.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/yaghoub-yadali-rituals-of-restlessness/
LOCATION:DIESEL\, A Bookstore\, 5433 College Ave\, Oakland\, CA\, 94618\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T012227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T012227Z
UID:21914-1463684400-1463691600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:InsideStoryTime SANCTUARY
DESCRIPTION:InsideStorytime SANCTUARY — our first East Bay event! — at Octopus Literary Salon\, 2101 Webster Street\, Oakland\, on Thursday May 19th 2016\, 7-9 pm\, will feature Ali Eteraz (Native Believer)\, Paul Corman-Roberts (We Shoot Typewriters)\, Alexandra Naughton (American Mary)\, Edmund Zagorin (The Face of Our Town)\, and Tanya Rey. With MC James Warner (All Her Father’s Guns).
URL:https://litseen.com/event/insidestorytime-sanctuary/
LOCATION:The Octopus Literary Salon\, 2101 Webster St #170\, Oakland \, CA\, 94612\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T012013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T012013Z
UID:21913-1463684400-1463691600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:BI the way
DESCRIPTION:“Bisexuals? WTF? Do they really even exist?” The answer is yes\, and they’ll be taking E.M. Wolfman books by storm with readings on the topic of loving more than one gender…or at least sorta wantin’ ta…well\, you know. Our readers for this evening are Mk Chavez\, Ruth Crossman\, J de Salvo\, Keeley Ann Finn\, Kelly Klein\, Colleen McKee\, and Jan Steckel. The evening will be hosted by the “just plain ol’ gay” and always fabulous Vernon Keeve III. We hope to see you there for a great reading at a great local bookstore.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/bi-the-way/
LOCATION:E.M. Wolfman General Interest Small Bookstore\, 410 13th Street\, Oakland \, CA\, 94612\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T011829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T011829Z
UID:21909-1463684400-1463691600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Paul Madonna
DESCRIPTION:Paul Madonna’s First Solo Show in Five Years Comes to The Dryansky Gallery in San Francisco in the Form of an Exhibition & Book Launch \nPlease join us at The Dryansky Gallery for the opening reception of “Close Enough for the Angels” on Thursday\, May 19\, 2016\, from 7-9 pm! Artist Paul Madonna will be in attendance. \nHaving recently ended his popular and enduring “All Over Coffee” series after 12 years and a total of 726 strips and two books\, Madonna has completed “Close Enough for the Angels”\, an illustrated novel that looks toRaymond Chandler and Haruki Murakami as inspirations; the drawings in the book will not “illustrate” the text per-se\, but rather—influenced by 19th Century woodcut artist Utagawa Hiroshige—tell their part of the story in graphic terms in the style Madonna is well known for; the exhibit will consist of all new work\, including framed originals from the book\, text panels on the wall\, and a limited edition of fifty hand-bound copies of the book produced by the artist. \nClose Enough for the Angels—an exhibition of original drawings and limited edition book launch—opens May 19 from 7-9pm and runs through July 14 at The Dryansky Gallery\, 2120 Union Street in San Francisco \nFor more information visit: http://www.thedryansky.com/close-enough-for-the-angels \nAbout Paul Madonna\nPaul Madonna is a San Francisco-based artist and writer. He is the creator of the series “All Over Coffee” (San Francisco Chronicle 2004-2015)\, and the author of two books\, “All Over Coffee” (City Lights Bookstore 2007)\, and Everything is its own reward (City Lights 2011)\, which won the 2011 NCBR Recognition Award for Best Book. Paul’s work is about pairing elements: text and images; concept and craft; thought and beauty. Paul’s drawings and stories have appeared in numerous international books and journals as well as galleries and museums\, including the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Oakland Museum of California. He is the Comics Editor for The Rumpus.net\, has taught drawing at the University of San Francisco\, and frequently lectures on creative practice\, even when not asked. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD Magazine (1993-94)\, for which he proudly received no money. For more information visit: http://www.thedryansky.com/paul-madonna-bio
URL:https://litseen.com/event/paul-madonna/
LOCATION:The Dryansky Gallery\, 2120 Union Street\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94123\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160519T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160519T200000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T011440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T011440Z
UID:21908-1463680800-1463688000@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Townsend Walker
DESCRIPTION:In La Ronde a Park Avenue woman puts a price on her brutish husband’s head. Tells her Jersey girlfriend to ask her connected brother for help. The brother talks to his accountant and lover\, who talks to her other lover\, a movie producer who tells his glam wife back in L.A.\, who tells her personal trainer while getting a massage. The personal trainer mentions it to his boyfriend who is in money trouble. The boyfriend hypes the price on the husband’s head to get the loan shark off his back\, after the guy breaks his leg. The loan shark flies to New York to hire a hit man cheap. Is out-foxed by hit man’s hot sister. Back to the husband with a price on his head. \nTownsend Walker draws inspiration from cemeteries\, foreign places\, violence and strong women. A novella in noir\, La Ronde\, was published by Truth Serum Press in June 2015. Some seventy short stories have been published in literary journals and included in nine anthologies. He won first place in the SLO NightWriters contest\, second place in Our Storiescontest\, and two nominations for the PEN/O.Henry Award. Four stories were performed at the New Short Fiction Series in Hollywood. He is currently developing a screenplay based on La Ronde and a series of linked stories based on original collage works of Beverly Mills.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/townsend-walker/
LOCATION:Book Passage San Francisco\, 1 Ferry Building\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94111\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160518T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160518T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T010926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T010926Z
UID:21907-1463599800-1463607000@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Louise Erdrich w/ Gail Tsukiyama
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a very special evening with Louise Erdrich\, one of the most gifted\, prolific\, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists. The author of many award-winning novels\, including Love Medicine; The Beet Queen\, and The Bingo Palace\, this is her first novel since the publication of the 2012 National Book Award-winning novel\, The Round House. \nIn LaRose\, Landreaux Iron kills his neighbor’s five-year-old son\, Dusty Ravich\, in a hunting accident. The youngest child of his friend and neighbor\, Peter Ravich\, Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son\, LaRose. The two families have always been close\, sharing food\, clothing\, and rides into town; their children played together despite going to different schools; and Landreaux’s wife\, Emmaline\, is half sister to Dusty’s mother\, Nola. Horrified at what he’s done\, the recovered alcoholic turns to traditionthe sweat lodgefor guidance\, and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution\, he and Emmaline will give LaRose to the grieving Peter and Nola. “Our son will be your son now\,” they tell them. \nWhat follows is a powerful exploration of loss\, justice\, and the reparation of the human heart\, and an unforgettable\, dazzling tour de force from one of America’s most distinguished literary masters. \nBorn to a Chinese mother and a Japanese father in San Francisco\, Gail Tsukiyama’s bestselling novels include The Street of a Thousand Blossoms\, Women of the Silk\, A Hundred Flowers\, Dreaming Water\, The Language of Threads\, The Samurai’s Garden\, and Night of Many Dreams. \n 
URL:https://litseen.com/event/louise-erdrich-w-gail-tsukiyama/
LOCATION:Kepler’s Books\, 1010 El Camino Real\, Menlo Park \, CA\, 94025\, United States
CATEGORIES:North Bay
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160518T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160518T213000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T010207Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T010207Z
UID:21906-1463599800-1463607000@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Lyrics and Dirges
DESCRIPTION:Pegasus Books presents Lyrics and Dirges: A Monthly Reading Series \nFeaturing Readers: \nMaxine Chernoff\nGarrett Murphy\nLark Omura\nElizabeth Rosner\nJuan Velasco \nHosted and Curated by Sharon Coleman \nLyrics & Dirges is a monthly reading series featuring a mix of prominent\, emerging and beginning writers. Its aim is to highlight various forms of writing in an effort to spotlight the diverse literary community of the Bay Area.  \nEvery third Wednesday of the month at Pegasus Books Downtown.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/lyrics-and-dirges/
LOCATION:Pegasus Books Downtown\, 2349 Shattuck Ave\, Berkeley \, CA\, 94704\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160518T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160518T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T005943Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T005943Z
UID:21905-1463598000-1463605200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:An Appreciation of Ralph J. Gleason: Popular Music's Preeminent Commentator
DESCRIPTION:Toby Gleason in conversation with Al Young \ncelebrating the release of \nMUSIC IN THE AIR: The Selected Writings of Ralph J. Gleason \nCONVERSATIONS IN JAZZ: The Ralph J. Gleason Interviews \nboth edited by Toby Gleason \npublished by Yale University Press \nMUSIC IN THE AIR: The Selected Writings of Ralph J. Gleason\, collects in one volume the best cultural criticism and music writings from Gleason. With a foreword by Jann Wenner and introduction by Paul Scanlon\, the book collects the best of his essays\, interviews\, liner notes\, correspondence\, and books in sections covering Jazz and Blues; Folk\, Rock\, and Pop; Comedy; and Politics and Culture. \nThe co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine\, Ralph J. Gleason was among the most respected journalists\, interviewers\, and critics writing about popular music in the latter half of the twentieth century. As a longtime contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle\, Down Beat\, and Ramparts\, his expertise and insights about music\, musicians\, and cultural trends were unparalleled\, whether his subject was jazz\, folk\, pop\, or rock and roll. He was the only music journalist included on President Richard Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List\,” which Gleason himself considered “the highest honor a man’s country can bestow upon him.” \nThis sterling anthology\, edited by Gleason’s son Toby\, himself a forty-year veteran of the music business\, spans Ralph J. Gleason’s four decades as popular music’s preeminent commentator. Drawing from a rich variety of sources\, including Gleason’s books\, essays\, interviews\, and LP record album liner notes\, it is essential reading for writers\, historians\, scholars\, and music lovers of every stripe. \nTwo-time Grammy Award winner Ralph J. Gleason (1917–1975) was the author of numerous articles and three highly regarded books on music as well as an acclaimed TV and documentary film producer. Toby Gleason is a veteran jazz radio producer\, programmer\, and host\, and a former assistant editor at Rolling Stone. \nCONVERSATIONS IN JAZZ: The Ralph J. Gleason Interviews brings together for the first time rare and never-before-seen interviews between Ralph Gleason and fourteen of the greatest jazz musicians. These informal sessions\, conducted mostly in Gleason’s Berkeley home\, have never been transcribed and published in full until now. With a foreword and introductory noted by Ted Gioia\, this collection gathers in one place remarkably candid conversations with many of the jazz greats of the twentieth century\, from Coltrane to Parker to Mingus and Gillespie. \nDuring his nearly forty years as a music journalist\, Ralph J. Gleason recorded many in-depth interviews with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. These informal sessions\, conducted mostly in Gleason’s Berkeley\, California\, home\, have never been transcribed and published in full until now. \nThis remarkable volume\, a must-read for any jazz fan\, serious musician\, or musicologist\, reveals fascinating\, little-known details about these gifted artists\, their lives\, their personas\, and\, of course\, their music. Bill Evans discusses his battle with severe depression\, while John Coltrane talks about McCoy Tyner’s integral role in shaping the sound of the Coltrane quartet\, praising the pianist enthusiastically. Included also are interviews with Dizzy Gillespie\, Sonny Rollins\, Quincy Jones\, Jon Hendricks\, and the immortal Duke Ellington\, plus seven more of the most notable names in twentieth-century jazz. \nToby Gleason is the son of Ralph J. Gleason. \nAl Young is a poet\, novelist\, essayist\, screenwriter\, educator\, and former Poet Laureate of California. Muriel Johnson\, Director of the California Arts Council declared: “Like jazz\, Al Young is an original American voice.” Mr. Young’s has produced numerous novels\, collections of poetry\, essays\, and memoirs. His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including Paris Review\, Ploughshares\, Essence\, The New York Times\, Chicago Review\, Seattle Review\, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature\, Chelsea\, Rolling Stone\, Gathering of the Tribes\, and in anthologies including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature\, and the Oxford Anthology of African American Literature.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/an-appreciation-of-ralph-j-gleason-popular-musics-preeminent-commentator/
LOCATION:City Lights Bookstore\, 261 Columbus Ave\, San Francisco \, CA\, 94133\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free,San Francisco
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160518T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160518T210000
DTSTAMP:20260620T185810
CREATED:20160506T005639Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160506T005639Z
UID:21904-1463598000-1463605200@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Fenton Johnson
DESCRIPTION:Award-winning author Fenton Johnson discusses his unforgettable new novel\, The Man Who Loved Birds. Inspired by the real-life state police kidnapping and murder of a legendary storyteller and petty criminal\, The Man Who Loved Birds is a seamless\, haunting fable exploring the eternal conflicts between free will and destiny\, politics and nature\, the power of law and the power of love.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/fenton-johnson/
LOCATION:Books Inc. Berkeley\, 1491 Shattuck Ave\, Berkeley \, CA\, 94710\, United States
CATEGORIES:East Bay,Free
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